Industrial Revolution
Circa 1700 to 1840+
For the first time iron is out of the hands of the blacksmith and into vast foundries that smelt and cast iron and Cast Iron becomes the construction materiel of the age.
Coalbrookdale in Shropshire is the origin of metal working in the early Industrial Revolution.
The Revolution changed the way things were made and included going from hand production methods to machines, iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, increasing use of steam power and the development of machine tools.
COAL & COKE replace wood and charcoal as prime source of fuel.
IRON & STEAM – Timeline
1698 – The first real attempt at industrial steam power -Thomas Savery.
1709 – Coke used to smelt iron ore, Coalbrookdale – Abraham Darby.
1712 – First safe steam engine was introduced – Thomas Newcomen circa 1712.
1740 – Crucible steelmaking discovered by – Benjamin Huntsman.
1779 – First steam powered mills – fully automating the weaving process.
1782 – Improved and more efficient steam engine developed by James Watt.
1786 – A Watt engine in the Albion cotton mill – London – Richard Arkwright.
1792 – Coal gas for general lighting and heating by William Murdock circa 1792.
1797 – The first true industrial lathe invented by Henry Maudslay.
1801 – Demonstration of steam locomotive by Robert Trevithick.
1807 – First successful steamboat ‘Clermont’ – Robert Fulton.
1825 – The first regular railway services – Stockton & Darlington.
1830 – The Liverpool & Manchester Railway first regular commercial rail service.
1830 – Rail service between Liverpool and London – George Stephenson.
1837 – ‘Great Western’- first ocean-going steamship – I K Brunel.
1843 – ‘Great Britain’ – first large iron screw-propelled steamship – I K Brunel.
1856 – The Bessemer converter developed to produce steel – Henry Bessemer.